Pull cord exerciser

ABSTRACT

A pull cord exerciser including a main body and a cord reel pivotally disposed in the main body. A pull cord is wound on the cord reel. The cord reel is equipped with a restoring member for driving the cord reel to wind the pull cord which is pulled out. A frictional member is coaxially fitted with the cord reel. A one-way bearing is connected between the frictional member and the cord reel. When pulling the pull cord, the cord reel drives the cord reel to rotate. During the pulling travel, by means of the one-way bearing, the frictional member is one-way driven to create a frictional resistance between a frictional face of the frictional member and the main body so as to achieve an exercising effect.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The present invention is related to a pull cord exercise a userof which is protected from getting hurt during back pulling of the pullcord.

[0002] The pull cords of a conventional pull cord exerciser are made ofelastic material. A user must exert a force against the elastic force ofthe pull cords to achieve an exercising effect.

[0003] The pull cords generally have strong elastic pulling force forachieving better exercising effect. However, after extending the pullcords, a user must exert a considerably great force to stop the elasticpull cords from abruptly bounding back. Otherwise, the backward pullingforce of the pull cords may hurt the user. Especially, with respect to abeginner, when pulling the pull cords, the user may fails to resistagainst the backward pulling force of the pull cords and get hurt.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0004] It is therefore a primary object of the present invention toprovide a pull cord exerciser in which a one-way bearing structure isconnected between the cord reel and the frictional member. Only when auser pulls the pull cord to drive the cord reel to rotate, thefrictional member is driven to make a frictional face thereof abradeagainst a frictional pad of the main body to create a resistance.However, when a restoring member drives the cord reel to wind the pullcord, the frictional member will not be driven so as to protect the userfrom being pulled and hurt during back pulling of the pull cord.

[0005] It is a further object of the present invention to provide theabove pull cord exerciser in which the cord reel and the frictionalmember are coaxially pivotally mounted on a shaft. One end of the shaftis formed with a stop face. The other end of the shaft is formed with athreaded section passing through the main body to screw with anadjustment wheel. By means of rotating the adjustment wheel, the pushingforce exerted by the stop face onto the frictional face is changed sothat the frictional resistance between the frictional face and thefrictional pad is changed to vary the exercising effect.

[0006] The present invention can be best understood through thefollowing description and accompanying drawings wherein:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0007]FIG. 1 is a perspective assembled view of the present invention;

[0008]FIG. 2 is a perspective exploded view of the present invention;

[0009]FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line III-III of FIG. 1;

[0010]FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line IV-IV of FIG. 1;

[0011]FIG. 5 shows the use of the present invention in one state;

[0012]FIG. 6 shows resistance-to-travel curvatures of the presentinvention and a conventional pull cord exerciser;

[0013]FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing the adjustment of frictionalforce of the present invention;

[0014]FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of the presentinvention; and

[0015]FIG. 9 is a sectional view of a third embodiment of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0016] Please refer to FIGS. 1 to 4. The pull cord exerciser of thepresent invention includes a main body 1 having an internal receivingspace 11. In this embodiment, the main body 1 is formed by a frame body101 and two side boards 102, 103. One side of the frame body 101 isequipped with a fixed member for a user to fix the main body 1. In thisembodiment, the fixed member has a form of a handle 12. A shaft 13 ispassed through the side boards 102, 103 of the main body 1 to pivotallymount a cord reel 2 in the receiving space 11. A pull cord 21 is woundon the cord reel 2. The pull cord 21 extends out of the frame body 101in a direction opposite to the fixed member 12 to connect with a gripsection 22.

[0017] The cord reel 2 has a cavity 23 in which a restoring member forpulling back the cord reel 2. In this embodiment, the restoring memberis a coiled spring 24 having an outer end 241 and an inner end 242. Theouter end 241 is hooked on the cord reel 2, while the inner end 242 ishooked on a pin member 25 disposed on the side board 102 of the mainbody 1. A pad plate 26 is disposed on the side board 102 correspondingto the coiled spring 24 to prevent the coiled spring 24 from collidingthe side board 102 and producing noise.

[0018] A sleeve 27 is disposed between the cord reel 2 and the shaft 13.One end of the sleeve 27 opposite to the cavity 23 is formed with a dent271. A frictional member 3 is coaxially fitted in the dent 271. Theouter circumference of the frictional member 3 is formed with multiplegrooves 32 for receiving therein roller pins 31. The frictional member 3contacts with the sleeve 27 via multiple roller pins 31. One end of thegroove 32 is deeper, while the other end thereof is shallower, wherebythe sleeve 27 and the frictional member 3 together form a one-waybearing structure. One end of the frictional member 3 is a largediameter end 33 extending out of the dent 271. The end face of the largediameter section 33 is formed with a frictional face 34. A frictionalpad 35 is disposed on the side board 103 of the main body 1corresponding to the frictional face 34. When pulling the pull cord 21,the cord reel 2 drives the frictional member 3 to create a sufficientfrictional force between the frictional face 34 and the frictional pad35.

[0019] One end of the shaft 13 distal from the frictional face 34 of thefrictional member 3 is formed with a differential section 131 withlarger diameter. The side board 102 is formed with a differential hole104 corresponding to the differential section 131 for the differentialsection 131 to pass therethrough. Therefore, the shaft 13 cannot berotated. One face of the differential section 131 adjacent to the cordreel 2 is formed as a stop face 132. The other end of the shaft 13opposite to the differential section 131 is formed with a threadedsection 133 passing through the side board 103 to screw with anadjustment wheel 14. By means of rotating the adjustment wheel 14, theshaft 13 is driven and displaced, whereby the stop face 132 provides apushing force to change the frictional resistance between the frictionalface 34 and the frictional pad 35.

[0020] The main body 1 is further equipped with a guiding mechanism 4including two corresponding pulleys 41, 42 pivotally disposed on innercircumference of the frame body 101. The pull cord 21 is passed throughthe space between the two pulleys 41, 42 and then conducted out of theframe body 101. Accordingly, when the pull cord 21 is pulled out orwound, the two pulleys 41, 42 guide the pull cord 21 to reduceresistance against the pull cord 21.

[0021] Referring to FIG. 5, a user can at the same time use two pullcord exercisers. In use, the user can step on the handles 12 and holdthe grip sections 22 of the pull cords 21 with both hands. When the userpulls the pull cords 21 to drive the cord reels 2 to rotate, the coiledsprings 24 are wound up. The coiled springs 24 via the roller pins 31drive the frictional members 3 to rotate. The frictional faces 34 of thefrictional members 3 abut against the frictional pads 35 on the sideboards 103. Therefore, when the user pulls the pull cords 21, the usermust exert a force against the frictional force between the frictionalfaces 34 and the frictional pads 35 so as to achieve an exercisingeffect. When the user no more exerts the force, the restoring force ofthe coiled springs 24 will drive the cord reels 2 to wind the pull cords21. During the back travel of the cord reels 24, the frictional members3 will not be driven so that the coiled springs 24 only need to pullback the pull cords 21. Therefore, the coiled spring 24 can have lowtorque to avoid additional load on the user. Accordingly, when the pullcord 21 is pulled back, the user only needs to slightly exert a forceagainst the restoring force of the coiled spring 24. This protects theuser from getting hurt when the pull cord is pulled back.

[0022] Moreover, the frictional resistance between the frictional face34 and the frictional pad 35 created when pulling the pull cord 21 isconstant no matter how long the pulling travel of the pull cord 21 is.That is, the frictional resistance is always T1 as shown in FIG. 6. Incontract, the resistance of the elastic pull cord of the conventionalexerciser is increased with the increment of the pulling length. Thatis, the resistance of the elastic pull cord is as shown by curvature T2of FIG. 6. Therefore, the pull cord exerciser of the present inventioncan achieve better exercising effect.

[0023] In addition, a user can rotate the adjustment wheel 14 to adjustthe pushing force of the stop face 132 of the shaft 13 against thefrictional member 3 as necessary as shown in FIG. 7. Accordingly, thefrictional force between the frictional face 34 and the frictional pad35 can be changed. The greater the pushing force exerted onto thefrictional member 3 is, the greater the frictional resistance betweenthe frictional face 34 and the frictional pad 35 is. Accordingly, a usercan exercise to a greater extent. When it is desired to lower thefrictional resistance, the adjustment wheel 14 is reversely rotated.

[0024] During pulling of the pull cord 21, the pull cord 21 snuglypassing through the gap between the two pulleys 41, 42 is guided by thepulleys 41, 42 so that the resistance against the pull cord 21 duringpulling is reduced.

[0025] Alternatively, a user can hold the handles 12 with both hand andfit his/her feet into the grip sections 22 and stretch his/her feet topull the pull cords 21 to exercise. Alternatively, the user canrespectively hold the handle 12 and the grip section 22 with both handsto pull the pull cord 21 to exercise. Still alternatively, the handle 12can be fixed on a wall or other article and the user can hold the gripsection 22 with one hand to pull the pull cord to exercise.

[0026] A one-way bearing structure is formed between the sleeve 27 ofthe cord reel 2 and the frictional member 3 so that only when the userpulls the pull cord 21 to drive the cord reel 2, the frictional member 3will be driven to make the frictional face 34 abrade against thefrictional pad 35 of the main body 1 to create a resistance. However,when the coiled spring 24 drives the cord reel 2 to wind the pull cord21, the frictional member 3 will not be driven so as to protect the userfrom being pulled and hurt during back pulling of the pull cord 21.Furthermore, by means of rotating the adjustment wheel 14, the pushingforce of the stop face 132 can be changed so that the force exerted bythe frictional face 34 against the frictional pad 35 can be changed.Accordingly, the exercising effect is variable.

[0027] The above embodiment is only used to illustrate the presentinvention, not intended to limit the scope thereof. Many modificationsof the above embodiment can be made without departing from the spirit ofthe present invention. For example, FIG. 8 shows a second embodiment ofthe present invention, in which the fixed member 12A has a form of atransverse beam and the grip section 22A also has a form of a transversebeam. A user can step on the fixed member 12A with both feet and holdtwo ends of the grip section 22A with both hands to pull the pull cord21 for exercising. This can achieve the same effect as the firstembodiment.

[0028]FIG. 9 shows a third embodiment of the present invention, in whicha spring 15 is disposed between the adjustment wheel 14A and the sideboard 103A for resiliently pushing the adjustment wheel 14A. Therefore,in normal state, the shaft 13A keeps pushing the frictional member 3 bya certain force to make the frictional face 34 abut against thefrictional pad 35. This can also achieve the same effect as the firstembodiment.

What is claimed is:
 1. A pull cord exerciser comprising a main bodyhaving an internal receiving space, a fixed member being disposed on themain body for a user to fix the main body, a cord reel being pivotallydisposed in the receiving space via a shaft, a pull cord being wound onthe cord reel, the pull cord extending out of the main body in adirection opposite to the fixed member to connect with a grip section,the cord reel being equipped with a restoring member, the restoringmember serving to drive the cord reel to wind the pull cord which ispulled out, a frictional member being coaxially fitted with the cordreel, a one-way bearing being connected between the frictional memberand the cord reel, one end of the frictional member being formed with africtional face, whereby when pulling the pull cord, the cord reeldrives the frictional member to create a frictional resistance betweenthe frictional face 34 and the main body.
 2. The pull cord exerciser asclaimed in claim 1, wherein the restoring member is a coiled springreceived in a cavity of the cord reel, the coiled spring having an outerend and an inner end, the outer end being hooked on the cord reel, whilethe inner end being hooked on a pin member disposed on the main body. 3.The pull cord exerciser as claimed in claim 1, wherein the main body isfurther equipped with a guiding mechanism including two correspondingpulleys disposed in the receiving space of the main body, the pull cordbeing passed through a gap between the two pulleys and then conductedout of the main body, whereby when the pull cord is pulled out or wound,the two pulleys guide the pull cord to reduce resistance against thepull cord.
 4. The pull cord exerciser as claimed in claim 1, wherein oneend of the frictional member is a large diameter end having an end faceserving as the frictional face.
 5. The pull cord exerciser as claimed inclaim 1, wherein a frictional pad is disposed in the receiving space ofthe main body corresponding to the frictional face of the frictionalmember so as to provide a sufficient frictional force between thefrictional face and the frictional pad.
 6. The pull cord exerciser asclaimed in claim 1, wherein one end of the shaft distal from thefrictional face of the frictional member is formed with a differentialsection with larger diameter, the main body being formed with adifferential hole corresponding to the differential section for thedifferential section to pass therethrough, whereby the shaft cannot berotated along with the cord reel or the frictional member, one face ofthe differential section adjacent to the cord reel being formed as astop face, the other end of the shaft opposite to the differentialsection being formed with a threaded section passing through the mainbody to screw with an adjustment wheel, whereby by means of rotating theadjustment wheel, the shaft is driven and displaced and the stop faceprovides a pushing force to change the frictional resistance between thefrictional face and the main body.
 7. The pull cord exerciser as claimedin claim 6, wherein a spring is disposed between the adjustment wheeland the main body for resiliently pushing the adjustment wheel, wherebyin normal state, the shaft keeps pushing the frictional member by acertain force to make the frictional face thereof abut against thefrictional pad.